A Torino torna a funzionare la gigantesca Fontana Igloo di Mario Merz dopo anni di inattività. La storia
The giant Fontana Igloo by Mario Merz in Turin, located at the traffic island between Corso Mediterraneo and Corso Lione, has been restored and reactivated after years of inactivity. Mayor Stefano Lo Russo announced the completion of the restoration, which allows the fountain to operate daily from 8 a.m. to midnight. The work, created in 2002 as part of the Spina Centrale urban redevelopment project, features a stone-covered dome with red neon cardinal directions and a rectangular basin with inclined water jets. It is one of the most important contemporary public art pieces in Turin.
The reactivation matters because the fountain had become a symbol of Turin's inactive public fountains, sparking debate over its maintenance costs and future. The city had estimated restoration costs between €30,000 and €70,000 in 2025, considering private sponsorship. The work is part of the "Artecittà. 11 artisti per il Passante Ferroviario" program, a 1995 commission curated by Rudi Fuchs and Cristina Mundici to integrate art into the city's urban transformation. Only three of the planned eleven works were realized, making the preservation of this iconic piece by a leading Arte Povera artist significant for Turin's cultural heritage.